The Story Archive

King Baabu

Wole Soyinka · 2001 CE · Play · Nigerian · Contemporary

General Basha Bash seizes power in the West African state of Guamkpam and, urged on by his wife, remakes himself as a king while his country is looted. Soyinka wrote it as a farce on the Abacha dictatorship, openly after Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi, which is not held in this archive. It was first staged in Lagos in 2001.

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Attributes

Genre
SatirePolitical
Theme
Power & CorruptionAmbition & HubrisJustice & RevengeIndividual vs Society
Archetype (Jung / Campbell)
Villain / TyrantRuler / King
Plot type
Rise and FallIronic Reversal
Symbol / motif
The CrownThe Stage
Conflict
vs Societyvs Person
Mode / tone
SatiricalComic
Culture / tradition
Nigerian

Closest analogues